1. Technical Field
This application relates to a beverage filling machine for filling cans with a liquid beverage. This application further relates to a filling element with a rinsing cap which can be moved between a radially inner, non-engaged position and a radially outer, engaged position, whereby the rinsing cap is held and guided by radially inward guides, wherein the rinsing cap is additionally received and/or held in its engaged position by at least one receptacle. Advantageous developments of at least one possible embodiment are described herein below.
2. Background Information
Filling elements, in particular those for use on rotary-type filling machines, are known in an extremely wide variety of models. It is also known that these filling elements as well as the surfaces of the filling elements that come into contact with critical areas of the containers during the filling process can be cleaned and/or rinsed in a cleaning or rinsing phase with a liquid and/or vapor medium, for example. Critical areas of the container are, among others, the interior surfaces of the container and the surface areas in the vicinity of the mouth of the container.
For the cleaning and/or rinsing of the filling elements, the conventional practice is to apply cap-like closing elements to the filling elements in the vicinity of the dispensing openings, by means of which, during the filling process, the liquid being bottled is introduced into the containers, and specifically to form closed rinsing spaces. These cap-like closing elements are called “rinsing caps” below.
The cleaning and/or rinsing of the filling elements, in particular of their ducts and their surface areas that come in contact with critical areas of the containers during the filling process, whereby the surfaces in question can also be sealing surfaces, can then be performed by, among other things, the rinsing and/or cleaning medium that is made to flow through the individual closed rinsing space, and which flows into the rinsing space, for example, via the respective dispensing opening of the liquid channel, and is removed via at least one additional duct that emerges in the rinsing space, for example via the back-gas duct.
The placement and fixing in position of the rinsing caps in preparation for the rinsing or cleaning phase as well as the removal of these rinsing caps after the rinsing and cleaning phase is a complex, expensive and time-consuming process.
Because the handling of the rinsing caps is particularly time-consuming and expensive when the related activities must be performed manually, numerous suggestions have been made in the past to automate these activities.
In this context, it is worth nothing that bottles that are made of glass can be manufactured in almost any desired diameter ratios between the largest diameter of the bottle and the diameter of the mouth of the bottle. On the other hand, in the manufacture of cans, which are generally made of sheet metal, there are only small ratios between the largest and the smallest diameter of the can.
Consequently, the filling positions of can-filling machines can be at a smaller distance from one another than the filling positions of bottle-filling machines, because bottle-filling machines must also be capable of filling molded bottles that are not cylindrical but can have a bulge, for example.
For cost-reduction reasons, the filling positions of can filling machines are therefore located very close together, which causes problems in the arrangement of automatically movable rinsing caps.
A device for the automatic movement of rinsing caps is described in Japanese Patent No. 9-309593 A, for example. On this device, two rinsing caps each are held on a carrier element, whereby the carrier element is held on a sled that is oriented radially in relation to the rotating carousel of the filling machine. This sled can in turn be displaced radially from a first, inner position into a second, outer position, as a result of which the rinsing caps are brought into a functional connection with the associated filling valves. The guides and thus also the points of the application of force on the sled are located between the associated filling valves on a radially inner position.
This geometric configuration of two rinsing caps on a carrier element results in a significant disadvantage of the device described in Japanese Patent No. 9-309593A, but also in all additional corresponding devices in which the rinsing caps are moved from a radially inner position into a radially outer position.
The cans to be filled by can-filling machines have diameters between 53 and 82 mm, for example. The filling valves and thus also the associated rinsing caps have corresponding diameters. The cleaning or rinsing of the filling valves takes place at pressures of up to 3×105 Pa.
On the basis of these parameters, there is a force of up to 1500 N per rinsing cap, which in connection with the disadvantageous location of the points of the application of force can result in an elastic deformation of the rinsing cap fastening.
In practice, it is frequently observed that the seals of the rinsing caps sometimes lose some or all of their sealing function as a result of these plastic deformations, as a result of which the rinsing or cleaning fluid, which is under high pressure, escapes and contaminates the filling valve and/or the filling machine.
This escape of rinsing or cleaning fluid is generally considered a disadvantage.
The prior art also describes a device as claimed in German Patent No. 940 38 32. In this device, the vertically movable bell that creates the actual sealed connection between the can and the filling valve is located inside a surrounding tube. Attached to this tube which surrounds the sealing bell are elements that hold the rinsing cap, whereby these receptacle elements are located on the circular arc of the filling valves.
Of course, this device overcomes the disadvantage of the unfavorable location of the points of the application of force, although the location of the receptacle elements on the circular arc of the midpoints of the filling valves is particularly disadvantageous, because the individual filling elements must, under some conditions, be located at an increased distance from one another. A device of this type is also mechanically complex and expensive.